


Nick's Story

by Reader88



Series: The Utopian Knights [1]
Category: Gridiron Gang (2006)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1201147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader88/pseuds/Reader88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick Cannon is an African-American teenager hijacking cars in Chicago. When he's caught and arrested, he reminisces about his past life and how it helped lead him to a life of crime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

March 1980

The sun was starting to set and the busy city of Chicago would soon be enveloped in darkness. People would be heading home or heading to work to pull late-night shifts. One fifteen-year-old teenager had his own job to do once darkness fell.

Nick Cannon was hiding on the top floor of an old abandoned apartment building ready for reconstruction. The fifteen-year-old African-American teenager was waiting for darkness so that he could pull off his job. He had been eying a Mercedes-Benz that was parked near a whorehouse. He knew what time the pimp who owned the car got to the whorehouse to collect money from the prostitutes that worked for him. Nick knew he could disconnect the alarm, pick the lock, and hot-wire the car in about a minute.

At about 8:00 AM, he sneaked out of the abandoned building, went down the fire escape, and proceeded to hijack the car. He was dressed all in black: black pants, black gloves, black shirt, black hat, black shoes, and black mask. He scanned the street, the alleys, and the rooftops. The coast was clear. He went up to the Benz and went under the car. He found the right wires to disconnect the alarm and used a hairpin he found to pick the lock to the car. He slipped into the front seat and went under the dashboard and steering wheel to hot-wire. Nick crossed the right wires and the car sprung to life. Nick sat in the front seat, closed the door and started to drive away.

But while he was driving away, a sixth sense went through his body. Nick's instincts were telling him somebody was watching him. But who?


	2. Chapter 2

Nick drove the Benz through the dark streets of Chicago. He wasn't the least bit worried about getting caught. He'd done this many times before. He had already located the car's registration and he had a fake driver's license that claimed he was eighteen. A lot of people had told Nick that he looked older than his fifteen years.

Nick was driving to an abandoned warehouse near Lake Michigan. When he first moved to Chicago he had met some gangsters who told him how he could make some "easy money." Soon he learned all about the fine art of car jacking and was now a regular pro.

Nick drove up to the warehouse and honked the horn. A tall, muscular guy dressed in a mechanic's uniform peeked through the warehouse window. Nick stuck his head out of the car so that the guy would see him. The muscular guy pressed a button and opened the door. Nick drove the car in, got out, and shook the guy's hand.

“How's it going, Big Mike?” exclaimed Nick.

Big Mike replied, “It's back-breaking work fixing up these cars so that the Mob can sell them overseas.” The Chicago Mob controlled all organized crime in Chicago.

“Don't worry, Mike,” said Nick. "When we receive our cut, we'll be rolling in the Benjamins.”

Big Mike rolled his eyes and asked Nick, “Now, are you going to help me fix these cars or stand there jawing about how rich you're going to be?”

Nick went and put on a mechanic's uniform, grabbed a toolbox, and proceeded to work on the Benz he stole. First, Nick got some new license plates from a pile kept in a corner of the warehouse. Nick removed the license plates from the Benz and put the new license plates in their place. This way when the owner of the car gave the police his license plate number, they'd never be able to find it. Nick also checked under the hood to make sure nothing was out of place. Nick checked everything under the car as well. It was in good working order.

Nick passed the car along to Pete, a caramel-brown black guy who was good at forgeries. Pete would forge new registration papers for the Benz to make it seem more legit. Pete was also the one who had forged the driver's license for Nick.

Nick looked around for anything else to do but it had been a slow night. He took off his uniform, picked up his backpack and headed out. He walked from the warehouse to some back alleys. While he was thinking that Chicago's Department of Sanitation needed to clean up the shit in the alleys he heard someone yell, "Freeze! You're under arrest!" Nick knew he could run but if he did the cops-he sensed that there were two behind him-would put a bullet in his head without batting an eye. Nick lay down flat on the ground with his backpack slung across him and his hands behind his head.

The last thing Nick said to himself was,  _Figures_ , before they handcuffed him and put him in a police car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think of the story so far.
> 
> Sorry about the cliffhanger!


	3. Chapter 3

The two white police officers took off Nick's backpack and forced his arms behind his back. Then his wrists were handcuffed. As Nick was led to the police car the first police officer told him, "You're under arrest for grand theft auto. How's it feel, nigger?"

The second police officer took off Nick's backpack and told Nick his rights, “You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to be represented by an attorney. If you can't afford one the court will assign one.” Nick kept a straight face. This wasn't the first time he had been arrested and all the things the officer told him didn't help him the last time he got sent to jail. As far as Nick was concerned the law was a joke. People don't expect to be protected by the law or expect justice from the law.  

Nick sat in the back of the squad car and the officers went up to the front and drove away through the cold March night. Nick sat handcuffed in the car, with his hands behind his back. Nick saw the cop in the passenger seat had his backpack, which contained just about everything he owned. Nick had a fake driver's license which could be used as further evidence in a court of law. But he didn't have any cash. He always hid his cash when he went out carjacking. He sat there wondering if he would get off easy and be sent to a juvenile detention center once they figured out he wasn't eighteen.

The ride lasted about half an hour. Then the car stopped in front of a police station. The police officer who drove took Nick out of the car by his shirt collar and marched him into the station. A white officer at the front desk looked at Nick and asked, “What's he in for?”

The other officer replied, “Carjacking. Another street thug hoping to make some quick cash with the Mob.”

The white officer said, “Think we're any closer to crippling their empire?”

His friend stated, “Maybe when we finish interrogating this hoodlum and his friends we'll get some answers.”

Nick was then fingerprinted, fined, and put in a jail cell in Juvenile Hall. Nick sat in the jail cell thinking about what his punishment would be. He hoped he wouldn't be sent to another labor camp. All he did at the last camp he was at was work in fields and orchards, picking fruits and vegetables. The counselors and warden could have cared less about his rehabilitation. All they cared about was getting free labor out of him and the rest of the juvenile delinquents stuck there.

Nick decided to stop and think about when this life of crime started. It first started when he ran away from an abusive foster home at the age of ten. Actually, he realized, it started before he was ten. It all started on the day of his eighth birthday.

 _The day my childhood ended_ , thought Nick.


	4. Chapter 4

Nick could vividly remember his childhood in Roxbury. Roxbury is considered one of the roughest, toughest, and most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston. But to Nick it was his home. Nick remembers how his parents used to talk about the day he was born. "You were no bigger than a loaf of bread," his father Reuben used to say. "Since you were born so early the doctors weren't sure if you would survive. But you did survive. Since the day you were born you've always been a fighter."

His mother Vanessa would smile and say, "I never imagined I'd have children. The day you were born was the happiest day of my life. It was October eighth, 1964. I saw your face and knew you were destined for a special path in life." Nick couldn't help wondering if all parents say that to their children, but he liked being called special.

Growing up in Roxbury, Nick had the things that help make up a childhood: friends, playtime, and a feeling of freedom. Years later Nick would realize how he had taken all that stuff for granted.

The city of Boston asserts that Roxbury "serves as the heart of Black culture in Boston." The citizens of Roxbury were taught to maintain a sense of black pride and heritage. Nick maintained that pride by trying to learn how to sing. Roxbury used to be the home of many famous jazz musicians. Nick's parents listened to the musical styles of Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Otis Redding. Nick's favorite musicians as a child were Sly & The Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Jackson 5, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Julian Lincoln. He loved seeing black entertainers singing, dancing, and performing to crowds who were black and white. Nick hoped that one day people would clap and cheer when he sang. The Civil Rights Movement was also studiously learned everyday in Roxbury. Whenever someone mentioned the Civil Rights Movement the faces that popped into Nick's head were Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. Malcolm X inspired a black nationalist movement and believed in black supremacy. He used to live in Roxbury and came back to preach in the ghettos and help set up mosques for the Nation of Islam. Reuben even had an autographed picture of himself shaking hands with Malcolm. The autograph read,  _To Reuben, From Malcolm X. To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace._ The Black Panther Party helped continue Malcolm's work and had set up offices in Roxbury. The Black Panthers' ten-point platform outlined their goals, which they summed up by saying, "We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace." The Black Panthers aided the blacks of Roxbury with free health clinics, GED classes, tutoring, drug-awareness education, clothing supplies, legal aid and referrals, free dental care, free ambulances, busing families to loved ones in prison, and free breakfast programs for school-age children. When Reuben was laid off from work, the Black Panthers' Free Breakfast Program helped keep Nick's belly full. The Panthers also helped popularize Afros in the late 1960s and 1970s. For most of the '70s, Nick sported an Afro.

Nick also loved sports and his favorite sports were basketball, baseball, and boxing. The 1970s represented the first full decade in which African-Americans reached sports super-stardom. Nick's favorite athlete as a kid was Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. Other athletes Nick admired were "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron, the black baseball player who broke Babe Ruth's home run record, and Earl "The Pearl" Munroe, a black basketball player who was well-known for his flamboyant dribbling, passing, and play-making.

Nick's parents encouraged their son to pursue his interests. Reuben Cannon himself had dreams. Reuben was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. His father worked as a redcap at the train station during the day and as a professional boxer at night while his mother worked as a maid at the Robert E. Lee Hotel. When Reuben was a teenager he moved up North and became a thief in order to obtain the finer things in life. He was arrested for trying to rob a jewelry store and was sentenced to serve ten years at Attica State Penitentiary but was released on parole after six years. He was sent to live in Roxbury and was able to get a job as a janitor at an insurance company. Shortly after he got the job, Reuben went to his parole officer's office to show his pay stubs. He sat next to a beautiful African-American woman and introduced himself. "Hi, my name is Reuben." The woman replied and said, "My name is Vanessa." Soon they started talking. Reuben told her his story and she told hers. Vanessa said she had recently been released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. Vanessa's father had abandoned her and her mother when she was a child so she and her mother moved up North to Harlem, Manhattan from Hampton, Virginia. Vanessa's mother supported the family by working as a maid for affluent white families. Vanessa had hung out with a bad crowd and stole a dress from a fancy store. Vanessa was sentenced to serve five years at Bedford Hills. While she was in jail her mother died from a stroke. Vanessa was released on parole after three years and was sent to a halfway house in Boston. She was trying to find a job but not many businesses were hiring ex-convicts. Reuben asked her what she was good at. Vanessa said she learned to style hair in prison. When they left the office Reuben helped get her a job at a beauty salon in Roxbury. After that they started dating each other.

Reuben and Vanessa fell in love with each other. After they had been dating for a year Reuben proposed to her and they were married a few months later. After that, Vanessa showed signs of pregnancy and their son Nick Cannon was born on October 8th, 1964.

Nick had plenty of friends growing up in Roxbury and didn't possess a care in the world. That all changed on October 8th, 1972. Nick had just turned eight years old and was looking forward to a birthday cake and a present. Nick's parents had baked a chocolate cake and for a present he got a pair of roller skates! After dinner Nick asked his parents if they could play a game of hide and seek. They agreed. Reuben counted to ten and Nick hid in the closet near the front door, which was his favorite hiding spot in their project apartment. Reuben pretended he couldn't find his son and looked everywhere in the apartment except the closet.

Then all of a sudden Nick heard someone break down the door. He opened the closet door slightly and saw three black guys surround his parents. Nick wasn't sure what to do but decided it would be best if he remained hidden. One of the black guys asked Reuben, "Where's the loot?"

Reuben replied, "There ain't no loot, Tom."

The black guy called Tom said, "Don't lie to me. I know you pulled off some successful heists before you went to Attica. So where's the loot?"

Reuben said, "If I tell you will you promise to leave and not bother me or my wife again?"

The three black guys agreed. Reuben wrote down the address of where he had hidden some of his loot. Reuben chose not to fence the jewels because he wanted to live a simple life in Roxbury. In fact, he had dreams of becoming a writer. He always kept books by W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin, just to name a few.

After Reuben gave them the address Tom said, "Thanks, man." Then he took out his gun and shot Reuben in the throat and then he shot Vanessa in the head. They both fell.

Tom said, "Now I'm leaving and I promise not to bother you two again." Tom and his buddies laughed while they raced out of the apartment.

All Nick could do was leap out of the closet and cry over his parents' bodies. Tears fell down the face of a little boy who had lost everything that was precious to him.


	5. Chapter 5

Nick's life changed practically overnight. Nick's neighbors Robert and Sally Jones came to his apartment after they heard the gunshots. When they saw the dead bodies they attempted to comfort Nick over his loss. Robert Jones called the police who eventually arrived in half an hour. In Roxbury it's rare for cops to show up quickly after a 911 call. Ambulance workers came along and drove Nick's parents' bodies to the city morgue. Nick was then questioned by the police at his apartment and the police station. The cops said they'd do their best to catch the murderers but it's unlikely police will waste precious resources on the deaths of two African-Americans; it's a very common occurrence.

A social worker named Max Daley was assigned to Nick to help him cope with his loss. But Nick remembered how he didn't like him. Max always looked bored and kept looking at the clock, most likely wishing for time to move faster. Max told Nick it's best to forget and move on with your life. Nick thought that was quite absurd. How could he forget about the two most important people in his life? The ones who taught him everything about the world? But Nick didn't have time to grieve over his loss.

Nick remembered how he packed up all his things in an old brown suitcase that belonged to his father. Then Max drove him to a group home located in a different housing project in Roxbury. The owner of the group home, Anne Harris, obviously didn't like kids and wrinkled her nose in disgust when Nick walked through the door. Anne instructed a teenager named Darren to help Nick get situated upstairs. As Darren helped carry Nick's suitcase upstairs he tried to make conversation.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Darren. Nick just shrugged his shoulders up and down, as if to say, "I don't know."

Then Darren said, "You know Anne isn't such a bad woman. She's just upset because she doesn't get paid enough for her job." Nick wasn't sure if this was meant to be funny. Darren then showed him to a room. "This is where you'll be sleeping. I sleep in the last room down the hall on the right."Darren put Nick's suitcase on an empty bed and then pointed to a trunk. "That's where you can keep your clothes and other personal belongings. Anne takes laundry down to the laundromat on Fridays. I suggest you label your clothes so that they don't get mixed up with someone else' clothes." Nick just remained quiet. Darren added, "The bathroom is the last room down the hall to the left. Dinner is at six o'clock sharp." Nick started to unpack his suitcase. Darren looked around and said, "Well I guess that's everything. Talk to me if you need anything." Soon Nick was left alone to unpack. After Nick unpacked he went under the covers of his bed and cried. He had no idea how he would go through the rest of his life without his parents, but he knew somehow he had to.

Nick soon learned the number one rule in the group home was don't upset Anne. If you did she would whip you good with a belt or a switch. When Nick accidentally dropped a glass cup after dinner, Anne dragged him to her room and whipped his behind with a black leather belt. She then told Nick, "The next time you break something else, you worthless piece of shit, you're gonna get a lot worse than a whipping. Understand?" Nick nodded.

Nick suffered several beatings under Anne and was grateful when a social worker came and said he had found a foster family who was willing to take Nick in. Nick was happy that a family was interested in him. Darren had told Nick the younger you are the more likely you are to be adopted. Since Darren was a teen he didn't have high hopes. Darren said when he graduated from school he was going to join the Army.

Nick said, "That means you'll be sent to Vietnam."

Darren asked, "Yeah, so?"

Nick said, "The news says there's all sorts of bad stuff happening in Vietnam."

Darren said, "That's war, Nick."

Nick also said, "The Black Panthers say that blacks shouldn't be drafted. They say that a black man has no place in the white man's army."

Darren said, "I just wanna do something meaningful with my life."

Nick's happiness in being in a foster family was short lived when he started to live with them. Curtis and Martha Henry were alcoholics short on cash who thought that a way to get extra money was to bring in a foster child. The foster system usually gave foster families money so that they can support the kids. Unfortunately, the Henrys used most of their money to fuel their alcohol habit and Nick found himself going to bed hungry most every night. When the social worker came a month later to check on Nick he immediately removed Nick from the Henrys' custody and placed him with a different foster family. That family wasn't any better since their son thought it was fun to push Nick around since he was nothing more than a street urchin and the father beat Nick so hard he suffered bruised lips and bloody noses.

Over the next few years Nick suffered endless abuse at the hands of several foster parents. Nick didn't know how these people qualified as foster parents anyway. They all seemed to have it in for children. Exactly what questions did social workers ask the foster families? Were social workers really trying to do their jobs or did they just see the boredom of tireless sessions like Max had?

Throughout that period Nick immersed himself in music. He listened to jazz, Motown, and disco songs and could be found singing with different groups of kids on street corners. The crueler a foster parent was, the more Nick tried to escape through music.

Nick remembered the straw that finally broke the camel's back. It was July 1975. Nick was only ten years old but could count many scars on his body that he had received from countless beatings over the past three years. His current foster father, Lawrence, had come home from work in a bad mood and was prepared to take it out on Nick. But Nick wasn't about to be beaten again for no apparent reason. He stood his ground and attempted to fight back with his little fists. Lawrence appeared to gain the upper hand in the fist fight but he tripped on a fire iron, bumped his head on the coffee table and lay there senseless to the world. Nick saw him lying there and said to himself, "I've had it with you Lawrence and all the other no-good foster families who think it's great sport to beat a child to a pulp." Nick packed his few worldly possessions in his brown suitcase. Then he walked out the door into the bustling streets of Boston. And he never bothered to look back.


	6. Chapter 6

Nick was shaken out of his flashback when a police officer came to his cell and pushed a Hispanic teenager in. Nick didn't say anything to the Hispanic teen and the Hispanic teen didn't say anything to him. At least he had the sense to remain silent.

Then a police officer came and said, "OK you two, keep it shut, tomorrow's gonna be a busy day," even though Nick and the Hispanic teen weren't talking. Nick rolled over in his tiny bed on the bottom bunk and tried to fall asleep. The Hispanic teen rolled in his own bed on the top bunk and tried to do the same.

The next morning Nick was taken to the interrogation room. But remember when the cops arrest you and they say you have the right to remain silent? Some people talk too much.

Nick didn't say a single word during his interrogation. A black uniformed police officer came in and said, "Your silence is assuring us you are guilty. The two officers who arrested you saw you drive that Benz into the warehouse. We've been waiting to bust that car theft ring for a long time. All we really need is your name, age, address, and the names of any co-conspirators. If you give us the names of any other carjackers who weren't arrested last night, you'll get a lighter sentence."

But Nick didn't say anything. He knew the officer's carrot was a piece of shit. Scared boys start babbling before the cops bring them to an interrogation room. They start giving names the cops didn't ask for in order to save their own hide. The cops were frustrated that Nick didn't say a word but they realized they couldn't make him say anything and that if he wanted to remain silent that was his right. Nick also didn't use his one phone call since he didn't have any close friends to call.

The two cops who arrested Nick escorted Nick to the bathroom. They both watched him piss and stared at his ass. The first cop, whose badge said **Officer Wellington** , stated, "If you don't open your mouth, you'll be locked away for so many years nobody will recognize you when you return to the 'hood."

The second cop, whose badge said, **Officer Clarkson** , stated, "I wouldn't let this nigger anywhere near my wife. All those niggers in the ghetto treat their girls like dirt. If one tried to fuck my wife I'd put a bullet between his eyes."

Nick couldn't believe Officer Clarkson had a wife. Nick felt sorry for Mrs. Clarkson. She probably fed him a nice breakfast and told him to have a good day at work. She probably thought her husband was protecting and serving the people of Chicago. She definitely didn't know her husband spent his morning threatening a defenseless black teen and stared at a black teen's ass and dick. 

Nick was escorted back to his cell. When he got there he saw the Hispanic teen was gone. He must have been taken down to an interrogation room. The police officer left Nick alone in Juvenile Hall and Nick was just fine with that. He lay on his bed and thought back to the first time he had committed a crime. After that day he was never the same.


	7. Chapter 7

Nick Cannon was waiting behind a dumpster for nightfall to envelope the city of New York. It was a chilly autumn day and Nick's raggedy jacket was barely enough to keep him warm. He knew he needed more supplies to make sure he didn't die on the streets: food, a new toothbrush, toothpaste, new clothes, some medicine for his cough, etc.

Nick had been living on the streets for a few months ever since he had sneaked aboard a delivery truck and got out of Boston. The truck had stopped in New York City and Nick soon started looking for something to eat and a place to sleep. He saw a homeless shelter in Harlem, but he knew if he went in there people would ask all sorts of questions about his parents. If they found out he didn't have any then he would be sent back into foster care. So Nick found an abandoned basement that he could live in and found himself eating out of garbage cans to survive on the street. It wasn't too long before Nick found himself stealing. At first he only stole food to stay alive but he decided he needed to up his game.

So that night when New York City was enveloped in darkness Nick sneaked toward the back entrance of the store and broke the window with a brick he had been holding on to. He stepped through the broken window and looked over the electronic store. He picked up two VCRs and went out through the broken window. In the morning he sold the VCRs at the playground for $10 each. He used the money to buy himself a new jacket and two hotdogs. Unfortunately, the newspaper published an article the next day about the robbery at the electronic store. What frightened Nick the most was that an eyewitness had given the police a description of the guy who robbed the store and a sketch artist had provided a picture of a guy who looked similar to Nick! Nick decided he had to get out of New York City before the police found him and put him in jail or worse, foster care.

Nick then went down to the train yard that night and sneaked aboard a train heading to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When Nick got off in Philadelphia he got back into the game of petty theft. Only this time he learned from his previous mistake. When he robbed a department store a few nights later he wore a mask. Unfortunately, the newspaper later published an article claiming that the police had dusted the store for fingerprints and they were able to find some. Nick knew they would figure out his identity when they finished examining the fingerprints. So Nick decided to run away again and sneaked aboard a train heading to Baltimore, Maryland.

When he landed in Baltimore he got into the habit of wearing a mask and gloves whenever he was going to rob a store. He also started dressing in all black so that he would blend in better with the night. He was able to steal and hustle enough to survive on the streets but he was eating less and soon became thin and scrawny from losing a lot of weight. Nick also got the chance to brush up on his music skills after listening to Southern soul groups in Baltimore nightclubs. Sometimes Nick was able to get a petty job helping around a nightclub and he got the chance to listen to some great music mostly inspired by different Southern styles, including blues, country and western, Negro spirituals, and gospel. Once again Nick would escape the sorrows of his miserable life by singing. Sometimes Nick would dream and hope that one day he could be a musician or even a songwriter. One of Nick's teachers once told him that he was one of the smartest students in class and to improve his English skills he had to read and write everyday. So Nick started writing down short stories, poetry, and songs. Even though Nick thought dreams were a waste of time, music and writing helped keep himself together in a world that didn't seem to care whether he lived or died.

For years Nick continued the same routine: sneak aboard trucks and trains; settle in new cities; pull off petty crimes to survive on the street; sing and write stories, poems, and songs in his notebook. But one day his luck ran out.

It was June 1978. Nick had settled in inner-city Indianapolis. The neighborhood seemed tough and gritty, but it wasn't as scary as most other inner-city neighborhoods, like Roxbury. Nick got settled into the new neighborhood after two weeks and teamed up with some guys who were robbing stores and re-selling the goods in other neighborhoods and cities. Nick was a skilled thief but his luck ran out when he hatched a plan to rob a liquor store. One trademark of life in the ghettos was the consumption of alcohol. People needed something to help them escape their blue-collar dead end lives and they found that through liquor. Nick had worked petty jobs in bars plenty of times and took notice of how much alcohol men drank. They always drank up to ten glasses and when they were drunk enough they usually got into fights. Not everyone could afford to buy alcohol in bars and that was when street hustlers came into play.

Nick had picked out a little store called Murray's Liquor Shop and was planning to rob it later that night. At around midnight he dressed up in his black shirt, black pants, black shoes, black gloves, and black mask. He sneaked toward the back of the store through some back alleys and used a crowbar to break open the back window. He went into the store and found some large bottles of liquor. Nick picked up two large packages and walked out the door with them.

But when he got to the truck where the other gangsters were, a man in a police officer's uniform came in front of him and yelled, "Freeze! Put your hands in the air!" Nick dropped the bottles of liquor as they fell to the floor with a CRASH! The other thieves and hustlers had already been handcuffed and were put in police cars. Nick was able to figure out that they told the police about him and other thieves involved in the black market in order to get a lower prison sentence. The whole world was rigged. Nick was then handcuffed and put in a police car. The officer read him his rights, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to an attorney during questioning. If you can't afford one the court will assign one."

Nick was put in a jail cell by himself in Juvenile Hall until his court date in July. He was found guilty on charges that included breaking and entering and petty theft. The judge in juvenile court, a middle-aged white man named Judge Edwards whose face didn't show any emotions, sentenced Nick to one year incarceration at Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Nick was put on a yellow school bus the next day to Plainfield. The ride only took about an hour because the bus driver had to pick up other juvenile delinquents and then drive for half an hour to the town Plainfield. There were eight other passengers besides Nick. Nick was handcuffed and sat in the back wondering what to expect at in juvie. He had very low expectations because adults had been letting him down since his parents died. Nick just hoped that Plainfield wouldn't be a labor camp. Nick had heard stories of labor camps from ex-convicts in the 'hood and the stories were anything but pretty. Nick was sure they would try to work him to death as they could care less about his rehabilitation and more on getting free labor.

Nick was proven right when they arrived at Plainfield; there were fields and orchards of fruits and vegetables. Nick was soon told the rules. All the boys slept in single cells. They wore dark navy blue prison uniforms because dirt didn't show up much on dark navy blue. The boys had two sets of clothes, one for work, one for relaxation. After three days their work clothes were washed and their second set became their work clothes. The boys woke up at 5:00 AM, ate breakfast, and went to work in the fields and orchards from 6:00 AM until 3:00 PM. After that they all took showers, changed into their relaxing clothes and either went to their rooms or to the recreation room until dinnertime. Food in prison really was terrible but after spending three years of eating from garbage cans, Nick was anything but a picky eater. Bedtime was at 8:00 PM.

Working in the fields and orchards reminded Nick of the stories of slave labor the Black Panthers had taught him. Nick soon had blisters on the palms of his hand and felt sore all over his body. But soon his body adjusted to the harsh conditions and Nick almost enjoyed the work. Nick's body soon became tall and muscular from working in the fields and the growth spurt he had during puberty. Even though he turned fourteen, in jail plenty of the guys said he looked older than fourteen. Nick was able to escape his harsh life by writing things down in his notebook. When he ran out of notebook paper he wrote on scraps of toilet paper and newsprint or on the walls of his cell.

Soon his sentence at Plainfield was completed and Nick was released from one prison to be sent back to the prison of foster care. Mr. Owens, the head of the foster home Nick was sent to, was highly temperamental and despised children. He physically and verbally abused the children but didn't beat Nick as much as the other kids because of how tall and intimidating he was becoming. Nick packed his things and ran away again. This time he bought a bus ticket to Chicago.

He arrived in Chicago just as the leaves were turning red, orange, brown and gold. But Nick didn't have time to marvel at the city's beauty as he was once again caught up in the game of survival on the streets. He started out with the same petty crimes he had been pulling off for years until some gangsters suggested he become a car thief. The money was better and the Mob was in desperate need for new car thieves to increase their business. Nick soon became a natural at car jacking; he stole cars from hustlers, gangsters, drug dealers, and pimps. They were always cruising in Benzes, Camaroes, Saabs, Porsches, and other luxury vehicles. The fact that they rode in fancy cars while other people in the ghetto were driving beat-up cars that were leaking oil caused most people, including the cops, to pay close attention to them. Nick didn't want to be an asshole who was glorified and praised for being a hoodlum. Nick may have been a hoodlum, but he lived through the cracks. When most people saw him on the street they didn't look twice.

Nick had a good system going on and didn't go to bed hungry as often as before but he realized what a big dead end his life was turning into. He might be able to get a normal job in about a year since most high school dropouts could find work. But whatever job he found wouldn't pay much; he'd still be stuck in the ghetto and he wanted to find a way out.

Then Nick remembered that his father once said that working as a janitor was a dead end life and planned to get out of the housing projects of Roxbury by becoming a writer. One day he took out his typewriter and started typing out a story about his life as an African-American criminal. But then a man with a gun put an end to all his dreams. Almost everybody in the ghetto had broken dreams.


	8. Chapter 8

Nick was awakened from his cot in Juvenile Hall by a police officer who gave him and the Hispanic teen lunch. They ate bologna and cheese sandwiches, water, and a chocolate chip cookie each. The guard told them, "Your arraignments have been scheduled for this afternoon. That means you two will hear the charges against you. The judge will then decide whether or not to set a bail. Just thought you'd want to know."

Nick thought, _Here we go again. I wonder where we'll be sent. Wait, why am I thinking we? Chances are the Hispanic guy and I will be sent to different youth authority facilities. I could care less if I never see him again._

Nick didn't say anything and the Hispanic guy didn't say anything. But they both looked at each other and asked each other questions with their eyes. Even though they weren't talking they were still managing to have a conversation.

**Author's Note:**

> So the character of Nick Cannon is obviously based on real-life actor and comedian Nick Cannon. Nick Cannon is one of my favorite actors and I thought he would be great for the role of an angry African-American teenager who's experienced countless disappointment in the foster care system and has turned to a life of crime.
> 
> Plus, I imagine Nick looking the way he did as Alvin Johnson in the movie, 'Love Don't Cost A Thing', when he was sporting a bushy and nappy Afro. 
> 
> Please comment and give suggestions!


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